Today, fill your cup of life with sunshine and laughter.
~Dodinsky


08 January 2007

MUSICAL MONDAY #1 - a new series


Many people perceive classical music as being relatively uninfluential today, but we need to understand that all types of music are important, and that classical music is widely used by many rock groups. Some of the methods for integrating classical music into the pop genre are by the inclusion of an orchestra and sometimes a choir, as well as the borrowing of classical tunes, in whole or in part. I thought I knew a lot about this subject, but as I began to select samples, I realized that my knowledge was scarcely the tip of the iceberg. There are literally thousands of popular songs, in every imaginable genre, that are based upon classical music. Here are ten, in various styles, from the 1960's to today:

U from Chopin's Prelude in C minor for piano:
Could It Be Magic?
intro and coda (outro) are direct quotes of the prelude; the remainder of
the song follows the same chord progression



Could It Be Magic (Single Edit)
By Barry Manilow
BestAudioCodes.com



U from Bach's Suite in G minor for lute:
Bourree
this is basically a jazzed-up version of Bach's piece


Bouree
By Jethro Tull
BestAudioCodes.com

U from Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2:
All By Myself
the melody is taken note-for-note from Rachmaninoff



All By Myself
By Eric Carmen
BestAudioCodes.com



U from Pachelbel's Canon in D major:
C U When U Get There
background accompaniment is the Canon's bass line



C U When U Get There
By Coolio
BestAudioCodes.com


U from Tchaikovsky's Symphony #5:
Annie's Song
the melody is the same as the 2nd movement of this symphony



Annie's Song
By John Denver
BestAudioCodes.com


U from Grieg's Hall Of The Mountain King
Love
background track is the Grieg, pretty much intact:



Love
By Mary J. Blige
BestAudioCodes.com


U from Bach's Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring:
Lady Lynda
this one was new to me: the Bach is used both in the
accompaniment and melody of the song



Lady Lynda
By The Beach Boys
BestAudioCodes.com


U from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture:
2112
exerpts of the 1812 Overture are scattered throughout





U from di Capua's O Sole Mio:
It's Now or Never
the melody of di Capua's aria is replicated here



It's Now or Never [Original Undubbed Master]
By Elvis Presley
BestAudioCodes.com



U from Brahms' Symphony #3:
Love Of My Life
the melody is taken from the 3rd movement of the Brahms



Love Of My Life
By Santana
BestAudioCodes.com


Maybe it's the music nerd in me, but I love the juxtaposition of two such different styles of music. If you're interested, check out Wikipedia's partial list of "popular songs that have been based on classical music". You may be surprised. I know I was.

13 comments:

Travis Cody said...

You found the Beach Boys!! Oh my. Lady Lynda makes my top 100 favorite songs.

I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of these. This is a great topic.

I blinded you with Science! said...

Wonderful selection of music! I really like that Coolio song. I love that so many songs are based on classical music. Classical music encompasses so many different instruments that another song can be created only using the strings, the horns or the piano.

Excellent.

Unknown said...

Pachebel's Canon has gotten so popular over the last few years.

I often point out songs in cartoons to them. A lot of music from the Baroque era can be heard in older cartoons such as Bugs Bunny as well as newer ones. Tchaikovsky and Chopin also are popular in that genre.

Twyla said...

Have you ever heard Metallica's S&M album? Btw...S&M stands for Symphony and Metallica...get your mind out of the gutter. LOL
They played all of their songs with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. It's amazing! I'm a HUGE Metallica fan, and this is by far my favourite album. It's the mixture of electric guitars and violins...you just can't beat that. :-)

Sonny said...

Hi Coco!

Here's your first minute!
And thank you very much for your comments. It's a minute for each. And NO, I don't hate you for the comments. Not many people have commented yet. :(

Big Hugs,
Sonny

Sonny said...

And again a minute!!

If you want to join the pledge, you don't need to do something special. Just tell your readers about it. That's all.

Sonny said...

For that third time is a charm, here's another minute!

By the way, the first time I read about the pledge was at the Sunflowers blog (you'll find the link in my blogroll)!

I decided to join the pledge last year already, but for that I started my Weight Watchers not until today, I didn't tell my readers of it before.
I don't know how Sanni does this, but it seems as if she could read my brain... =)
Everytime an Idea grows in my mind, she already posted it! (Okay, she's at home nearly the whole day, and I only have time to blog in my free-time...)
I'm not unhappy about it (just a little little bit, coz people might think that I always steal my ideas at sanni and don't have my own), but I'd really like to know how she does this....
Maybe it's just because we're kind of soulmates. We've got a lot in common.
And I'm really thankful I found Sanni. She's always like a sister to me. I really love her.

Okay, have fun doing excercises my dear!
*cuddles*
Sonny

TopChamp said...

Good luck with the exercise thing Coco.

I still can't get the audiocodes working and it's bugging me.

Does anyone reading these comments know why they would work one minute and then all of a sudden conk out? I can't even hear them on the audiocodes website.

Angell said...

Coco - reading your blog is always an education.

Thanks for teaching us with passion and laughter. :D

Unknown said...

YAY! Welcome to the Club, dear Coco!
I´m glad you´ve joined =)

And thank you so much for sharing this outstanding post. I always thought I know a lot about music - but you beat the pants off my freshly trained... *erm* body. LOL

Unknown said...

Barry Manilow!

:thud:

I love that list, Coco, great job!

Amanda said...

Great list Coco! I love the variety. I love just about all types of music (including rap) and this is a great collection of songs

Travis Cody said...

You added more music!! Now I have to come back again and listen some more!!

Again - this is a great topic.

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